News Release

BYU's American Piano Quartet plans Nov. 23 recital

The Brigham Young University School of Music will present the American Piano Quartet in concert Saturday, Nov. 23, in the Madsen Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased at the Fine Arts Ticket Office, (801) 422-2981 or byuarts.com/tickets. Tickets are $6.

The American Piano Quartet is comprised of faculty artists from the School of Music, including Robin Hancock, Scott Holden and Jeffrey Shumway. They will be joined by Del Parkinson, a professor of piano at Boise State University.

"During this performance, we will be performing on two Fazioli 308 pianos, a very exclusive piano with only 100 in existence,” said Scott Holden. “With two of these pianos on stage, each 10 feet long, it will literally be the only place on earth that there are two of these models are side by side — outside of the factory in Italy.”

The concert will open with “Grand Galop Chromatic” by Franz Liszt, followed by the “Die Moldau” by Friedrich Smetana and the Waltz Suite, Op. 8 by Moritz Moszkowski.

The first half will end with Aram Khatchaturian’s fiery “Sabre Dance,” which will be dedicated to the memory of APQ founding member Paul Pollei, who passed away last summer.

After a brief intermission, the American Piano Quartet will present “Espana” by Emmanuel Chabrier, “Pavanne,” Op. 50 by Gabriel Faure and a transcription of the Symphony No. 3 by Johannes Brahms.

They will conclude the performance with “Fantasy on Themes of Offenbach” by Mack Wilberg and “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2” by Franz Liszt.

The American Piano Quartet was formed in 1984 after former BYU piano faculty member Paul Pollei received a piece of music for a piano quartet. The resulting concert was so well-received that they decided to continue as a group and have since performed around the world.